SPECIAL HEARING DEVELOPMENT NEEDS OF THE FORMER BENNETT FREEZE AREA 1994

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    S. Hrg. 103-142DEVELOPMENT NEEDS OF THEFORMER BENNETT FREEZE AREAH.AP 6/2; S. HRG. 103-442l>elopet HeeJs of the Former Be. ^EINGBen BEFORE A

    SUBCOMMITTEE OF THECOMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

    UNITED STATES SENATEONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESSFIRST SESSION

    SPECIAL HEARINGPrinted for the use of the Committee on Appropriations

    MMay ^ fPO'.

    U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE70-386 cc WASHINGTON : 1994

    For sale by the U.S. Government Printing OfficeSuperintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402

    ISBN 0-16-043913-2

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    S. Hrg. 103-442DEVELOPMENT NEEDS OF THEFORMER BENNETT FREEZE AREA4. AP 6/2; S. HRG, 103-442elopntnt Deeds of the Forner Be. .

    ARING3EF0RE A

    SUBCOMMITTEE OF THECOMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

    UNITED STATES SENATEONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS

    FIRST SESSION

    SPECIAL HEARINGPrinted for the use of the Committee on Appropriations

    U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE70-386 cc WASHINGTON : 1994

    For sale by the U.S. Government Printing OfficeSuperintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402

    ISBN 0-16-0A3913-2

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    COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONSROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia, ChairmanDANIEL K. INOUYE, HawaiiERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South CaroUna

    J. BENNETT JOHNSTON, LouisianaPATRICK J. LEAHY, VermontJIM SASSER, TennesseeDENNIS DeCONCINI, ArizonaDALE BUMPERS, ArkansasFRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New JerseyTOM HARKIN, IowaBARBARA A. MIKULSKI, MarylandHARRY REID, NevadaJ. ROBERT KERREY, NebraskaHERB KOHL, WisconsinPATTY MURRAY, WashingtonDIANNE FEINSTEIN, California

    MARK O. HATFIELD, OregonTED STEVENS, AlaskaTHAD COCHRAN, MississippiALFONSE M. D'AMATO, New YorkARLEN SPECTER, PennsylvaniaPETE V. DOMENICI, New MexicoDON NICKLES, OklahomaPHIL GRAMM, TexasCHRISTOPHER S. BOND, MissouriSLADE GORTON, WashingtonMITCH McCONNELL, KentuckyCONNIE MACK, FloridaCONRAD BURNS, Montana

    James H. English, Staff DirectorMary S. Dewald, Chief ClerkJ. Keith Kennedy, Minority Staff Director

    Subcommittee on Department of the Interior and Related AgenciesROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia, Chairman

    J. BENNETT JOHNSTON, LouisianaPATRICK J. LEAHY, VermontDENNIS DeCONCINI, ArizonaDALE BUMPERS, ArkansasERNEST F, HOLLINGS, South CaroUnaHARRY REID, NevadaPATTY MURRAY. Washington

    DON NICKLES, OklahomaTED STEVENS, AlaskaTHAD COCHRAN, MississippiPETE V. DOMENICI, New MexicoSLADE GORTON, WashingtonMARK 0. HATFIELD, OregonCONRAD BURNS, MontanaProfessional StaffSue MasicaRusty MathewsKathleen Wheeler

    Administrative SupportEllen Donaldson

    (II)

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    CONTENTSPage

    Opening remarks of Senator DeConcini 1Statement of Peterson Zah, president, the Navajo Nation, Window Rock,AZ 3Prepared statement 6Statement of Roman Bitsuie, director. Office of Navajo-Hopi Land Commis-

    sion, the Navajo Nation 24Prepared statement 25Statement of Vernon Masayesva, chairman, the Hopi Tribe 30Prepared statement 34Statement of Alton Honahni, governor, Monencopi Village, Tuba City, AZ 37Statement of Nelson Gorman, Jr., speaker, the Navajo Nation Council 39Prepared statement 42Statement of Stanley Robbins, chairman, 1934 Area Redevelopment Task

    Force, and council delegate, Cameron/Bodaway Chapter, the Navajo NationCouncil 49Prepared statement 50Statement of Herb Yazzi, attorney general, department of justice, the NavajoNation 55Prepared statement 55

    Statement of Kelsey A. Begaye, president. Western Navajo Agency Council,and council delegate, Kaibeto Chapter, the Navajo Nation Council 57Prepared statement 58Statement of Scott Russell, Ph.D., adjunct professor, anthropology depart-

    ment, Arizona State University 62Prepared statement 63Statement of Lorenzo Morez, Sr., vice president. Tuba City Chapter 65Prepared statement 67Statement of Renda Fowler, chapter coordinator, Tonale Chapter 77Prepared statement 78Statement of John Hubbard, director, Navajo Area Indian Health Service,

    U.S. Public Health Service 96Prepared statement 99Statement of Sharon Drake, community health nurse, Navajo-Hopi LegalServices Program, the Navajo Nation 102Prepared statement 103Statement of Wilson Barbe, director, Navajo Area Office, Bureau of Indian

    Affairs, Gallup, NM 120Prepared statement 122Statement of George Abe, member, school board. Tuba City Unified PublicSchool District 123Prepared statement 123Statement of Loretta Flatrock, board member. Little Colorado River Soiland Water Conservation District 147Prepared statement 147Statement of Robert Simpson, president, Junction Enterprises, Inc 151Prepared statement 152Statement of Louise Yellowman, supervisor, Coconino County, AZ 154Additional prepared statements and articles:Statement of Joe Dayzie 175Statement of Edward Little, Tuba City, AZ 176Statement of Rubianne Dugi, acting veterans service officer. Departmentof Navajo Veterans Affairs 177Statement of the Cameron Chapter Area 177

    (III)

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    IVPage

    Letters, memorandums, and resolutions:Memorandum from the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute Commission 178Statement of James Peshlakai, Cameron Chapter president 178Prepared statement of Reed Tso 180

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    DEVELOPMENT NEEDS OF THE FORMERBENNETT FREEZE AREAFRIDAY, JULY 9, 1993

    U.S. Senate,Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies,Committee on Appropriations,Tuba City, AZ.The subcommittee met at 9:15 a.m., in the auditorium. GreyHills High School, Warrior Avenue, Tuba City, AZ, Hon. DennisDeConcini presiding.Present: Senator DeConcini.

    NONDEPARTMENTAL WITNESSESSTATEMENT OF PETERSON ZAH, PRESmENT, THE NAVAJO NATION,window rock, AZACCOMPANIED BY ROMAN BITSUIE, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF NAVAJO-HOPI LAND COMMISSION, THE NAVAJO NATION

    OPENING REMARKS OF SENATOR DE CONCINISenator DeConcini. Ladies and gentlemen, the Senate Appro-

    priations Subcommittee on the Interior and Related Agencies hasauthorized a hearing in Tuba City on the subject matter of theBennett freeze. We are holding the hearing under the authority ofthe chairman of the full Appropriations Committee and the sub-committee, Senator Robert Byrd.I want to thank Senator Byrd, for the record, for allowing us andagreeing to these field hearings on the development needs of theformer Bennett freeze area. I want to thank the chairman and hisstaff. Sue Masica for their outstanding work, as well as June Tracyof my staff, for the work they do together.Appreciation to the Grey Hills High School, the board members,and administration for permitting us the use of this fine facility.

    I want to thank the Office of Navajo-Hopi Land Commission for thearrangements in making this available.We will receive testimony from the Navajo Nation, the HopiTribe, Bennett freeze area residents, Indian Health Service, Bu-reau of Indian Affairs, and others. We hope to complete these hear-ings by 12 noon because of other scheduled events on the reserva-tion, and we will have to set up a limit for the amount of time forpubHc participation outside of the five panels that we do have. Wewill be leaving the record open for a period of 2 weeks from todayfor anyone who wants to send and submit additional written testi-mony.

    (1)

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    Much of what we are going to hear reflects hardship caused bythe most unfortunate twist of fate which the Navajo and Hopi peo-ple have Hved with since the formal establishment of the Navajoand Hopi reservations by the U.S. Government in 1934. When theU.S. Government officially recognized the area known at the 1934reservation as trust lands to be held for the use by Navajos and"such other Indians as may reside thereon," it set the foundationfor conflicting land claims by the different tribes.As a consequence of that action, the ensuing litigation to deter-mine each tribe's rights to the 1934 land, in turn, resulted in theimposition of a construction freeze by the U.S. Government. The1.5 million-acre area became known as the Bennett freeze area.The legal quagmire created by the U.S. Government denied resi-dents of the area the basic ability to improve their lives for thepast 26 years. While awaiting the resolution of the litigation, west-em Navajo Reservation communities have been suspended in astate of neglect. According to initial assessments, only 10 percentof the area families have running water, while one-half of familiesliving outside the freeze area have this basic service. Only 3 per-cent of the freeze area homes have electricity.In the last 25 years we have seen a 65-percent increase in familymembers, while virtually no new homes have been built. In thepast I have visited these areas and seen these homes and talkedto these people. It is a deplorable situation and it is hard to believethat it is in this great land of ours that this can happen.Fortunately, in my judgment at least, last September the DistrictCourt of Arizona issued a final judgment based on the merits of thecase. Not all agree that this is the right conclusion, but I believethe conclusion was necessary so that we could end this horrible sit-uation. In his order. Judge Carroll recognized the inequity causedby the restrictions on development and services essential for com-fort and sanitation, and he removed the ban. Now pressing reha-bilitation and development needs must be addressed. And I agreewith the court that area residents have waited long enough, if notway too long.The U.S. Government must assist the Navajo Nation as it movesto bring these communities out of the third-world conditions theyhave been living in. The estimated 7,800 residents of the formerBennett freeze deserve no less than a fundamental commitment bythe Federal Government to eliminate the substandard living condi-tions which they have endured for more than a quarter century.Homes declared unfit for habitation much be replaced. Newhomes for families who have been forced to settle temporarily awayfrom their homeland should be built. Running water and electricityservices need to be brought into communities as a first step to im-prove the health status of all living in the area. In the long term,the entire area will need new roads and basic community facilities,schools, and other infrastructure which are essential to its eco-nomic revitalization.

    Fiscal constraints on the Federal budget will require us toprioritize all of the pending backlog of needs. While we may not beable to address everything at once, I am prepared to make a strongand, hopefully, persuasive case for the most pressing needs thisyear. The testimony presented today by all sides will underscore

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    the severity of the need and provide the Interior AppropriationsSubcommittee with a valuable understanding of the problem and,hopefully, we can get started on the solution.

    I must say this is the most difficult year on the AppropriationsCommittee that I have served on for going on 17 years now, of allo-cations and the shortage of resources, so it could not be coming ata worst time when we are competing for scarce resources. However,I can assure you that this Senator, and I am sure others of the del-egation, will do all that we can to see that we can begin.Today we have a number of panels. On our opening panel wehave President Peterson Zah and we welcome him here. I want tothank him sincerely for suggesting that perhaps the best way tolay out the record here is to have a hearing in the Bennett freezearea. So that is why I petitioned the chairman of the subcommitteeto permit us to have the hearing here, and I want to thank Presi-dent Zah. Accompanying him is Roman Bitsuie, director of the Of-fice of Navajo-Hopi Land Commission.President Zah, your full statement will be inserted in the recordand you may summarize it, please.

    SUMMARY STATEMENT OF PETERSON ZAHMr. Zah. Thank you, Senator. I would like to also thank you forbeing in this area and at the same time petitioning the chairmanof the Appropriations Committee so that we can submit to you thesum of our statement in the record to seek the funding that wehave requested from Congress.I think it is ironic that we are having this hearing on this day,Julv 9, 1993, because it was almost exactly 27 years ago on July8 tnat Robert Bennett froze the area. And at tnat time this wasa very poor area and the condition has even gotten worse sincethen.And I wanted to just tell you and tell members of the staff that

    during that 27-year period, the United States in its wisdom wantedto have a chance at doing away with poverty in the United States.And the war on poverty was declared by Congress, and as a resultpeople went out and offered people certain programs. And thisarea, the Bennett freeze area, was not able to seek any benefitsfrom the War on Poverty Program because of the freeze. And thenPresident Johnson also made a declaration where he had his GreatSociety Program, and people in the Bennett freeze area, again,never benefitted from that Federal program. Twenty years later,George Bush became the President and he called on people for athousand points of light to come forth and help America and thosein need. Again, the Bennett freeze area never received any benefitor notice.Today if you were to walk through the former Bennett freeze

    area, you would feel exactly the same way as Bobby Kennedy feltin 1967. Not only has the area not improved since 1967, it has got-ten worse. That is because of the Bennett freeze which halted eco-nomic and social progress throughout the area. It is, as someonehas described it recently, "The land where time has stood still forthe last 27 years."I believe that statement summarizes everything. If we are to

    learn from what we have done to the people of the Bennett freeze

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    area, it should give us one message that we should all remember,and that is that the United States should not be in the businessof having to freeze any kind of a construction or development, evenso far as to have people fix their homes to have a decent place tolive, to have electricity, to have running water, to have decentroads, to have schools, to have a community. Those should neverbe tampered with because the people who are living in these kindsof areas fully depend on that infrastructure for their survival.And I am happy that, at last, this is over with in the formerfreeze area. Now the people are able to be free and be counted likemany of the other American people, or the Navajo people, so thatthey can make the progress that they have been looking for for somany years. However, we cannot do all of those things on our own.We need Federal help. We need your help. Senator, in convincingCongress that here is a situation where Congress had a role inbacking the decision that was made by Robert Bennett in 1966,and had, as a result, the statutory freeze in the area.And I basically believe that the United States has the moral andlegal obligation to help the Navajo people in the freeze area, andbecause of the role the United States played I think they have aresponsibility. And because of that, this year we submitted ourbudget which calls for $21.5 million as our first-year funding.We do have a long-term plan that addresses the issue of the re-habilitation of the land and people from here on to the next 5 or10 years. So this is only the beginning and we wanted the commit-tee to make sure that they are aware the we will be coming backnext year and the following year to ask for some more money sothe people can begin having the infrastructure that the Americanpeople take for granted in America. I wanted to make that state-ment so that you and the committee would know what we are look-ing for.In this former Bennett freeze area, we are talking about 2,500families and we are talking about 10,000 individuals. And they des-perately need help, not only from the Federal Government, butfrom all of your Federal agencies. And so, Senator, I hope that youwill take that message back to your committee. I know that in yourstatement you indicated that Congress is facing some tough timesbudgetwise. You are having to battle for every penny that Federalagencies and programs are receiving. And I know that that hasbeen repeated to me. When we usually ask for money, people inCongress usually say, "Well, we are having this hard time in Con-gress, we do not really have the necessary funding to do what wewant to do."They make those statements, and the sameor the next daywhen you pick up the paper we have situations where this year $3billionnot million, billion dollars$3 billion has already gone toIsrael. Another $2 million has gone to Egypt. An almost another$1 billion has gone to the use of the Soviet Union. And so I can

    criticize the argument that there is no money to give to the Amer-ican Indian people to help them with their houses, because thenext day after those statements are made, you read about all of themoney that has gone into other areas. So it makes me wonder.However, I make just one request, and that request is that wehave the Bureau of Indian Affairs^you are going to have Wilson

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    empted and the Moencopi area was exempted. And as a result ofthose amendments, these two communities continued to develop.I do not know what went through the mind of Robert Bennettback in 1966. He thought that he should do this in the best inter-ests of having the two tribes come together and be able to solve

    their differences. But in the long run, when you really look at thefreeze, it never really worked out that way. It only punished theNavajo people because Moencopi was exempted later on, wheremost of the Hopi people in this area live. Yes, Tuba City was la-beled as an administrative area and they were exempt, except thepeople who are living out there in the rest of the former freeze areawere never exempted, so they had to suffer greater in numbersthan, for example, the Hopi Nation.So the law was put into effect, to me, just to punish one side ofthe two tribes. And we certainly do not want to see that ever hap-pen again. I do not think the United States should be in the busi-ness of doing these kinds of things to any group of people, muchless Native American and the Navajo people.

    PREPARED STATEMENTSo, Mr. Senator, I thank you for the time that has been given

    to me, and I appreciate your presence. And you and I had a con-versation and discussed the idea of having this hearing out here inthe midst of the Navajo people in the former Bennett freeze area,and you have lived by your words and I appreciate that, and thankyou very much.[The statement follows:]Statement of Peterson Zah

    Mr. Chairman, my name is Peterson Zah, and I am the President of the NavajoNation. Today, I am joined by Roman Bitsuie, Executive Director of the Navajo-HopiLand Commission. On behalf of the entire Navajo Nation, let me express our deepappreciation to Chairman Robert Byrd, Senator Dennis DeConcini, and the sub-committee for coming to Tuba City to hold this hearing today.Mr. Chairman, this hearing comes at an auspicious time, for it was 27 years agoalmost to the day, July 8, 1966, that Robert L. Bennett signed the administrativeorder that put in place the "Bennett Freeze." [Exhibit 11 Who could have imaginedat the time that this tragic policy would remain in effect for over 26 years. It ismy hope that this hearing marks the start of a process in which the federal govern-ment will work with the Navajo Nation to address the economic, social, health, andother problems that this policy left behind.My comments today will describe how the Bennett Freeze came into being andhow it was administered for a period of over 26 years. I will discuss the devastatingimpact the Freeze has had on 1.5 million acres of the Navajo Reservation and theapproximately 2,500 families who live there, as well as the many families who weredriven from this land by the Freeze. Finally, I will share with you what the NavajoNation is doing to address the problems, and ask this subcommittee to assure thatthe United States government contributes its fair share to the solution.In 1967, when Senator Robert F. Kennedy took his now-famous tour of the poorestparts of rural Mississippi, he could have walked through many portions of the Nav-ajo Nation and witnessed poverty much the same. Today, if you were to walkthrough the former Bennett Freeze area, you would feel the way Bobby Kennedyfelt in 1967. Not only has the area not improved since 1967, it has gotten worse.That is because of the Bennett Freeze, which halted economic and social progressthroughout the area. It is, as some have described it, "the land where time stoodstill."For the thousands of Navajos who live on this 1.5 million acre time warp, therehas been no development, and thus, no progress for over 26 years. The people ofthe Bennett Freeze area have missed much of what America, the so-called "land ofopportunity," has had to offer. The Freeze prevented them from sharing in the bene-

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    fits of President John F. Kennedy's "war on poverty." They had no place in Presi-dent Lyndon B. Johnson's "Great Society." Even President George Bush's call for "athousand points of light" fell into darkness in the former Bennett Freeze area. Atleast the rural Mississippi that Bobby Kennedy saw was free to grow.In 1966, at the urging of the Hopi Tribe, Robert L. Bennett, the Commissionerof Indian Affairs, declared a "freeze ' on more than 1.5 million-acres of the NavajoReservation, which has had the effect of preventing the development of this entirearea. It did more to the Navajos than break the stream of their economic develop-mentit fragmented their community and family lives as well. There is no excusefor the United States government perpetuating the situation when it became appar-ent year after year for the more than 26-year period that the Freeze was forcingso many of my people deeper into poverty. The federal government was not helpingto resolve the dispute over Hopi claims to the 1934 Reservation.The Freeze brought a lot of 'firsts" to the Navajo Nation. I know of no other situa-tion in history in which the U.S. government has imposed a land freeze like this.Such action was, and is, virtually unheard of in modern society. Housing conditionsin the Bennett Freeze have been described as "the worst in America." The formerBennett Freeze area is now poorer than the poorest county in the United StatesShannon County, South Dakota. i In 1990, 625 of 2,699 Shannon County house-holdsabout 25 percentdid not have complete plumbing facilities. In some Chap-ters in the former Bennett Freeze area, 85 to 90 percent of the households have norunning water. Virtually every household in Shannon County has electricity; insome Chapters in the former Bennett Freeze area, 80 to 90 percent of the homeshave no electricity. The people who lived through the Bennett Freeze did nothingto deserve such dubious mstinctions.Mr. Chairman, imagine what would happen if the U.S. government sought to re-solve any other domestic conflict in the same way it has treated the Navajo in theNavajo-Hopi land dispute. Today's America is brimming with racial and ethnic ten-sions. The federal government attempts to handle these tensions diplomatically, al-most with kid gloves. The government would not do in Los Angeles or Miami whatit has done in tnis area around Tuba City.Nor should government officials attempt to excuse the government's actions withracist assertions such as, "these Navajos want to live like this." There are, indeed,many Navajos who want to live in what we call the "traditional" wayliving on theland, farming and raising sheep and other animals, and practicing the Navajo reli-gion. But, that does not mean they wanted to live with inadequate sewers, unpavedroads, no running water or electricity, and under the watchful eye of the Hopi Tribe,whose agents monitor and enforce their actions from trucks and helicopters. Theydid not wish to live under a law that prevented them from building a new hoganif the old one collapsed or was struck by lightninga law that required detailed ap-plications and approvals before they could add onto or renovate their homes. TheNavajo do not "want to live like this."There can be no dispute that the federal government is responsible for the "Ben-nett Freeze," and now is not the time to look for excuses or justifications. Now isthe time for the federal government to remedy the material deprivation it hascaused two generations of people.

    I. THE HISTORY OF THE FREEZENo less frightening than the Bennett Freeze area conditions themselves is theway the federal government has reinforced them over and over. Throu^out theyears, the government had many chances to Uft the Freeze. It never did. Time andtime again, the U.S. government effectively told the residents of the former BennettFreeze area that it did not care about their living conditions and their well-being.In fact, if you asked many residents of the area today, they will tell you they donot believe the Freeze has been lifted. The only confidence they have in the federalgovernment is the confidence that it will never come to their aid.It is important to understand the history of the Freeze and the restrictions it im-posed in order to see how it has caused such devastating consequences. For many

    years, the Hopi Tribe has been claiming vast areas of Navajo land known as "the1934 Reservation." It is called "the 1934 Reservation" because in 1934, Congresspassed a law that defined the exterior boundaries of the Navajo Reservation in Ari-zona. The Act reserved for "other Indians" those lands on which thev were then "lo-cated." This was intended to save for the Hopi Tribe, which already had its own res-ervation, the pocket of land around Moencopi, the one Hopi village outside the Hopi

    1 Shannon County is situated in the center of the Sioux Nation at the southwest corner ofSouth Dakota.

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    8Reservation. The "dispute" arose because the Hopi Tribe refused to accept the pur-pose of the statute and instead laid claim to vast portions of the Navajo Reservation,irrespective of historical or present use.The so-called "Bennett Freeze" came into being on July 8, 1966, when the Com-missioner of Indian Affairs, Robert L. Bennett, issued a series of administrative or-ders that restricted development on the western portion of the Navajo Reservationunless both the Navajo and Hopi Tribes agreed. These orders were issued at theurging of the Hopi Tribe, who claimed that development by the Navajo people livingon the land could infringe upon their "rights" should the Hopi succeed in their as-sertions that the land shoula be a part of the Hopi Reservation. The initial Freezeorders had little impact on the Hopi because, with the exception of the village ofMoencopi, few members of the Hopi Tribe lived on this land.According to Commissioner Bennett, the Freeze was imposed to encourage theNavajo Nation and Hopi Tribe to settle their dispute; but as the years dragged on,and all settlement attempts failed, the Freeze remained. It is amazing, in retrospect,to realize that Commissioner Bennett imposed the Freeze with no evidence whatso-ever regarding the extent of Hopi claims and prior to the time that the Hopi Tribewas even authorized to file suit to claim the disputed lands. The right to file suit

    was not available until 1974. Nonetheless, Commissioner Bennett in 1966 issued hisadministrative order that read as follows:Surface or subsurface resources of [that portion of the Navajo Reservation

    lying west of the 1882 Reservation bounded on the north and south bywesterly extensions of the northern and southern boundaries of the 1882Reservation] may be used "for exploration mining, rights-of-way, traders, orother use or occupancy * * " only with "formal action" by both the HopiTribe and the Navajo Tribe.

    Over the next ten years, the provisions were modified six times. In October of1967, the initial administrative orders were modified to allow "public works typeprojects" to be approved or disapproved by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs with-out joint tribal approval. Commissioner Bennett subsequently approved constructionof the Two Grey Hills High School and the Tuba City Indian Health Service Hos-pital.However, it was not long before the U.S. government reversed its course. In De-cember of 1970, the administrative procedures of July 1966 were substantially rein-stated. The new administrative order once again required consent by both the Hopiand Navajo tribes for all leases, exchanges, permits, rights-of-way and other trans-actions, including public works projects. [Exhibit 2]In 1972, another administrative order carved out two small "administrative" areasthat could be improved with the consent of only one tribe. The "Tuba City Adminis-trative Area," where we meet today, was made subject to the sole authority of theNavajo Tribe, and the Hopi Tribe was granted administrative authority over theMoencopi area. 2 [Exhibit 3]With the Moencopi area now exempt from the Freeze, there was virtually no day-to-day adverse impact on the Hopi Tribe or its members. The Hopi people, all ofwhom lived in the village of Moencopi, were free to build and improve their homes,start businesses, and do whatever else they wished. This freeze on development hadbeen intended to put pressure on both Tribes to settle the land dispute. However,once the U.S. government took the pressure off the Hopi Tribe, it handed the HopiTribe an opportunity to hold hostage the Navajo Nation. It is not surprising thatthe Hopi Tribe did just that.

    Eventually, the terms of the Freeze were enacted into a law that took effect in1980 (Public Law 96-305, codified as 25 U.S.C. 640(d)-9(f)). That law created thefollowing restrictions:

    Any development of lands [involved in the Navajo-Hopi land dispute re-garding the 1934 Reservation] * * be carried out only upon written con-sent of each tribe except for the limited areas around the village ofMoenkopi and around Tuba City * "Development" as used herein shallmean any new construction or improvement to the property and further in-cludes public work projects, power and water lines, public agency improve-ments, and associated rights-of-way.

    The effect of this law was to force the residents of the Bennett Freeze area to seekpermission from the Hopi to build anything, including homes, community facilities,and roads. As interpreted by the Hopi, the effect of the Freeze was to prohibit any

    2 The one exception was water wells, which were to be approved by both Tribes.

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    Navajo construction; even repairs, renovations, replacements, or additions. The HopiTribe took the position that fixing broken windows and doors, replacing leaking mudroofs and other everyday repairs were "new construction" which required submissionto the Hopi Tribe for their approval. I have attached a copy of the "Notice" that theHopi Tribe routinely posted on Navajo structures that it believed to be out of com-pliance. [Exhibit 4]

    Sadly, from the start of the Freeze in 1966 until it was substantially lifted in Sep-tember 1992, the Hopi denied or ignored nearly every one of the hundreds of re-quests made by the Navajo government and individuals and families for publicworks projects and for basic home improvements such as the addition of runningwater or the connection of their electrical wiring to a power line. Even simple re-quests to make repairs to damaged homes were delayed for years. To make mattersworse, in August 1982, the Hopi Tribe unilaterally decreed a "moratorium" on itsconsideration of "any and all construction activities * * * within the Bennett FreezeOrder Area." It enforced the moratorium by "postpon[ing] the processing of all con-struction applications" in the Freeze area, and using helicopter surveillance and ve-hicle patrols to monitor the Freeze to prevent alleged "illegal construction." [Exhibit5] It is not surprising that as time went on the individuals and businesses that weresubject to the Freeze stopped even submitting requests to the Hopi Tribe. What wasthe point? They always came back "denied"if they even came back at all.As years passed and the restrictions remamed. Freeze residents needed additionalhousing because their existing ones had become too small for their growing familiesor because the homes had decayed until they were uninhabitable. Some of these peo-ple were forced to live in shelters carved out of ditches covered with tarps. Otherscontinued to live in homes with no plumbing or electricity and with leaking roofsthat made everv rainstorm a struggle against the elements. It was only in 198822 years after the Freeze was imposedthat the law was amended to exempt hous-ing improvements from the approval requirements. However, even that exception re-quired a separate hearing before the Secretary of the Interior, and medical proofthat the repair was "necessary for the health and safety" of the resident. Deplorableand overcrowded conditions were not sufficient.On September 25, 1992, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona decidedthe Hopi claims on their merits. The District Court confirmed what my people haveknown all alongthat the Hopis did not have a rightful claim to the land. Followinga trial that spanned over two years, the Court found that the Hopi Tribe did not

    substantially use more than 175,000 acres of the 1.5 million acres that had beensubject to the Freeze, either in 1934 or today, and that all but 22,000 of these175,000 acres had been jointly used with the Navajo. Moreover, the Court specifi-cally concluded that in awarding the Hopi Tribe a total of about 62,000 acres, it wasawarding the Hopi "all areas currently used and used in any significant way by theHopis in 1934." The Hopi Tribe does not dispute this fact. With this overwhelmingdecision, the Court lifted the Freeze over much of the area, making it possible tobegin the process of recovery.The Bennett Freeze never had to happen. The Freeze did not accelerate the reso-lution of Hopi claims to the 1934 Reservationif anything, it delayed the resolution.By imposing the Bennett Freeze and upholding it at every chance for reconsider-

    ation, the federal government gave the Hopi Tribe no reason to settle the case andevery reason to delay. In the process, the federal government allowed the lives of2,500 Navajo families to be devastated for over 26 years.

    II. THE IMPACT OF THE FREEZEI do not, however, want to dwell on the past. The purpose of this hearing is tolook to the future and to find solutions to the many problems in the former BennettFreeze area that must now be addressed. This process starts with an assessment

    of the current situation.The Bennett Freeze has devastated 1.5 million acres of the Navajo Reservation.It has robbed communities of their vitality and people of their hope. Outside of theMoencopi-Tuba City areas, the economic infrastructure of this area has not im-proved for over 26 years. No new roads, no new power lines, no new water lines,no new housing, no new schools, and no new community facilities. Nothing.Consider what the Freeze has done to the economy of this area. This is a beautifularea, which tourists come to and which they pass through to visit the Grand Can-yon, Lake Powell, and other sites. But, the Navajo get no benefit from these tour-ists, no jobs and no income. With the exception of a few facilities that existed priorto 1966 or are located on parcels of non-Navajo land. Route 89 from Flagstaff toPage has no hotels, no restaurants, no campgrounds, no stores, and no gas stationson the portion that crosses most of the Navajo Nation. The reason for that is the

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    10Bennett Freeze. All requests to build these facilities were denied. And now, I under-stand that water, power, and sewer facilities are so out-of-date that it would be vir-tually impossible to build even one new restaurant or motel on Route 89much lessthe number of these facilities needed to provide jobs and economic vitality to thearea. The entire infrastructure of the area must be rebuilt from square one.The Freeze also has had a devastating effect on those Navajos that live "tradi-tional" Navajo lives. The traditional Navajo socio-economic system is centeredaround raising livestock and farming the land. Ideally, the meat, wool, and producewould be sold on the market in return for cash or for credit at the local trading post.However, the Bennett Freeze prevented the construction and maintenance of neededirrigation systems, handicapped the marketing of local produce, and contributed toa decline in the profitability of livestock rearing. Few Bennett Freeze area residentshave been able to support themselves in the traditional manner, and most have hadto resort to wage labor and federal aid.In addition to those factors, the ban on construction and the high unemploymentrate forced many of the area's young people to seek work away from their homesand families. The emigration of these peope, who are typically the best educatedfamily members, is a particularly great loss to the communities of the BennettFreeze area. About 2500 families still live on the former Bennett Freeze area, butit is clear that without the Freeze, the population would be higher and better edu-cated than it is today. And the Tuba City Administrative Area, which was exemptedfrom the Freeze, has become overcrowded and its resources strained as a result ofthe influx of people from the Freeze area, many of whom are poor and unaccus-tomed to living in the more-urban area.For those Bennett Freeze area residents who stayed, many have spent their entirelives in housing units which are little more than hovels, not meeting the most mini-mal federal required health and safety requirements. The prohibition on buildingnew homes forced many families who wanted to stay on the land to move in withtheir parents and other relatives. As a result, more than 60 percent of the BennettFreeze area homes are "overcrowded," meaning that their conditions fall below Rec-ommended Minimum Housing Standards of the American Public Health Association.The ban on improvements to homes has meant that most Bennett Freeze arearesidents must struggle every day to maintain minimal sanitation practices. Powerlines are virtually nonexistent in the Bennett Freeze area. As I noted earlier, insome chapters on the former Bennett Freeze area, over 80 percent of the homeshave no electricity. Many homes lack refrigeration or adequate sewage disposal. Itis not surprising, therefore, that the incidence of disease and mental health prob-lems are higher among Bennett Freeze area residents than anywhere else in my Na-tion.The crumbling infrastructure also has played a large role in breaking up familiesand disrupting traditional Navajo ways of life. In the entire Bennett Freeze area,there are only 122 miles of paved roads. By contrast. Shannon County, South Da-kota, the poorest county in the United States, has over 267 paved miles to servea population and land area of comparable size. The terrible road conditions havealso caused many of the area residents to travel for hours in order to receive medi-cal attention. Bennett Freeze area parents have been forced to send their youngchildren away to boarding schools because travelling conditions made it impossiblefor the children to make the daily trip to the local schools.In addition, few Bennett Freeze area homes have telephones. Thus, communica-tion with distant family members is difficult, if not impossible. In modern life, withthe increasing number of young Navajos leaving the Bennett Freeze area to seekemployment, this lack of communication can sever family ties completely.In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, the Freeze has caused two generations of Navajofamilies to live in poverty. It is a tribute to the strength and endurance of my peo-ple, and their attachment to the land, that they have managed at all.

    III. WHAT THE NAVAJO NATION IS DOING TO ADDRESS THESE PROBLEMSThe Bennett Freeze was lifted by the District Court on September 25, 1992, atleast as to the approximately 1.3 million acres for which the District Court deter-mined that the Hopi Tribe failed to submit evidence of a claim. The Navajo Nation

    is just beginning to address the challenges caused by over 26 years of neglect.On October 19, 1992, I signed an Executive Order establishing the StatutoryFreeze Redevelopment Task Force, comprised of experts in areas needed to designand conduct a recovery program for the former Bennett Freeze area. The goals ofthe Task Force are:To specifically identify the housing, infrastructure and other needs of the

    statutory freeze area that have been created or caused by the freeze; to de-

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    11velop a master plan for addressing those needs in an orderly and efficientmanner; and to consult with appropriate Tribal, Federal, State and otherofficials to assure that implementation of all development activities occursas expeditiously as possible.A copy of the Executive Order is attached as Exhibit 6.The Task Force is chaired by Councilman Stanley Robbins, who will testify later

    today about the progress that has been made. Several other members of this TaskForce will testify to the Subcommittee about the specific aspects of the plan for re-building the former Bennett Freeze area for which they or their agency is respon-sible. They can tell you in detail how the Navajo Nation government has begun in-vestigating the problems and assessing the needs of the area in order to focus ourefforts and implement the plans efficiently.We are well on our way to developing a plan for what must be accomplished inthe Bennett Freeze area. However, it is clear already that our plans cannot go for-ward without adequate resources.For over 26 years, the Navajo people could do no more than bandage the problemsof the Bennett Freeze area. Now that we are finally allowed to implement a planfor permanent rehabilitation, the resources needed for the rehabilitation are simplyunavailable. The financial assistance of the federal government will be absolutelyessential to restoring the former Bennett Freeze area.

    rv. THE ROLE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN REMEDYING THESE PROBLEMSThe federal government cannot wash its hands of the deprivation it has broughtto the Bennett Freeze area victims. The Court decision modifying the ban was onlythe first stepnow, the United States government must play a critical role in bring-

    ing the Area back in step with the rest of modern America. It has, I believe, a pro-found moral and legal obligation to remedy the deprivation it has imposed.By the terms of the Freeze, the Navajo residents were not even allowed to helpthemselves build better lives. Nor does the Navajo Nation, having watched its hous-ing, roads, and other infrastructure decay, have the resources to make up for theyears of progress the Bennett Freeze area was denied. Not only must the NavajoNation make up for 25 years of forced neglect, it has during the same years beenforced to spend millions of dollars preparing convoluted freeze applications to theHopi Tribe, appealing to the Secretary of the Interior from the Hopi Tribe's routinedenials, and defending the Hopi Tribe's claims in housing and repair litigation. Allof this money could have been spent productively, enhancing lives, but the NavajoNation has nothing to show for it but boxes and boxes of paper. The federal govern-ment must help remedy the grave injustice and tragedy it imposed on the peopleof the former Bennett Freeze area.

    Earlier this year, the Navajo Nation requested this Subcommittee to appropriate$21.5 million in funds for fiscal year 1994 to begin to remedy the problems in theformer Bennett Freeze area. This request was separate and distinct from the Na-tion's other requests for appropriations. The Bennett Freeze represents a uniqueproblem for which the U.S. government has a special responsibility. It would be un-fair and inappropriate for the federal government to meet this responsibility byredirecting funds that would otherwise be appropriated to meet the legitimate needsof the rest of the Navajo Nation.Our specific request was for funds in the following areas:Housing.$11,500,000 of the $21,500,000 in this request was for new constructionand rehabilitation of up to 255 housing units in the Freeze area in fiscal year 1994.This is only about 10 percent of the need for housing programs in the Freeze area.Water, sewer, and sanitation projects.Assaults on the health of the people withinthe Freeze area cannot be arrested without public water systems, wastewater sys-tems, and sanitary landfill operations with supporting transfer stations. The Nationhas requested $5,000,000 for this purpose. Approximately 10,000 people, includingmuch of the former Freeze area, will be served by the solid waste disposal transferstations to be funded by this request. Water service also will be extended to about400 families under this appropriation, roughly 20 percent of the need.Education.The $2,000,000 sought was the minimum which would meet the im-mediate needs for facility improvements and renovation at nine BIA, one tribalgrant, and public school district schools.Community facilities.^All 10 Chapters in or partially in the Freeze area are se-verely deficient in facilities for delivery of local government services. Coal MineMesa Chapter, indeed, lost its Chapter House site in the award of land to the HopiTribe and now is under great pressure to abandon these facilities. The services thatare administered at or near the Chapter houses include day care, and preschool, ag-

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    12riculture and grazing activities, elections, senior citizens programs, health and wel-fare programs, law enforcement and economic development activities.The $1,500,000 sought in this rec[uest would build or rehabilitate three Chapterhouses and affiliated program facilities.Agriculture, range and soil ccir- jrvation.The $1,000,000 sought would finance 47miles of fencing, property boundary surveys, windmill and stock tank construction,

    soil and range surveys, and the planning stage of range management work. All ofthese activities are essential to the Navajo livestock industry and were totally shutdown during the Freeze.Economic development.Included in this request was $500,000 for economic de-velopment management activities to be conducted in pursuit of economic develop-ment opportunities.These requests for funds in 1994 are only the first stage in a much longer-termeffort to address the problems of the Bennett Freeze area. The area will take a longtime to heal. An intensive effort extending as long as five to ten years will be re-quired. We look forward to working with this Committee, the Congress, and the Ad-ministration to develop and fund this program of rehabilitation.

    V. CONCLUSIONYour presence here today begins the long process of recovery for the former Ben-nett Freeze area. Today, we are looking at the problems that exist in the formerBennett Freeze area, and we have asked this committee to consider our initial re-

    quest to begin to address these problems. It is my hope that tomorrow the Sub-committee will begin working with the Navajo Nation to develop long-term solutionsto these problems.

    It is important, however, that this problem be put into perspective. The NavajoNation is requesting from the federal government $21.5 million in fiscal year 1994only a fraction the amount of foreign aid recently approved by the House of Rep-resentatives. The House foreign aid measure for 1994 authorizes $3 billion in mili-tary and economic assistance to Israel; $2.1 billion to Egypt; and $904 million inaid to former Soviet republics. We have already spent this year over $71 million inSomalia and about $36.8 million in Bosniaincluding $20 million in overseas for-eign disaster assistance to Bosnia.

    I urge this Subcommittee to help assure that the United States tends to the disas-ter assistance needs here at home with at least the same vigor and purpose thatit has brought to its missions overseas. The United States must take care of prob-lems within, as well as outside, its borders.

    I do not suggest that the United States abandon its effort to help the rest of theworld. That is an important part of what makes the United States a great country.It started in the wake of World War II with the Marshall Plan, and even in thesedifficult budgetary times it continues to this day. As one representative declared,"[western assistance is a lifeline * * * to the reformers in Russia."What I ask is that the United States extend a "lifeline" to people on its own soil.We need a Marshall Plan for the former Bennett Freeze area, which, in many ways,

    is as much in need of housing, roads, and other infrastructure from over 26 yearsof forced neglect as were portions of Europe in the post-war period. President JohnF. Kennedy's "War on Poverty" must now come to the former Bennett Freeze area.Let its residents be a part of "The Great Society." The U.S. government has keptthem "on hold" for over 26 years, and it is now time to answer the call.On behalf of the residents of the former Bennett Freeze area and the entire Nav-ajo Nation, I thank the Subcommittee for coming to Tuba City to witness, firsthand,the problems that have existed here for so long. The Navajo Nation alone cannotremedy the problems of the Freeze. We look forward to working with the Sub-committee and the rest of the Congress because together, I hope and believe, we candevelop a solution.

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    13

    Exhibit 1LETTER FROM BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS,DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

    JUL 8- :365

    Mr. Graham E. HolmesArea Director, Navajo, Window Rock, Arizona 86515Dear Mr. Holmes:The conflict between the Navajo and Uopi Tribes over theirrespective rights in the Executive Order Reservation of 1882 wasresolved by Healing v. Jones . The decision in that case unequiv-ocally and finally gave joint and common ownership of the surfaceand subsurface of the 1882 Executive Order Reservation lyingoutside of District 6 to the two tribes.Thus, the ownership and rights in that particular area areforever settled insofar as this Bureau is presently concerned.All actions whatsoever taken by officials of the Bureau (rights-of-way, traders licenses, leases, etc.) which hypothecate in anyway the resources of the jointly owned area of the 1882 ExecutiveOrder Reservation must be guided by the reality of commonownership.Another problem which has perplexed the Bureau for years is theadministration of that area in Arizona encompassed by the Act ofJune 14, 1934 (48 Stat, 960), popularly known as the "BoundaryBill of 1934." That Act confirmed to the Navajos, and otherIndians residing therein, ownership to certain Executive Orderadditions made to the Navajo Treaty Reservation of 1868. TheHopi Tribe has long claimed rights in the area encompassed by the"Boundary Bill." These have largely been ignored by the Bureau,and wholly by the Navajo Tribe. Historically, these claims havebeen confined to the general region of Moencopi and Tuba City andto the country lying between them and the Hopi Villages.In recent years, the Attorney for the Hopi Indians, acting ontheir behalf, has asserted the claims of the Hopi and protestedactions taken unilaterally by the Navajo Tribe and/or the Bureauin the area referenced without consent of, or for that matter,consultation with, the Hopi Tribe. Leases and permits have beengranted throughout the area without regard for any Hopi interest.Only recently, a lease was given to a restaurant operator for asite almost on the doorstep of Moencopi without Hopi consent.Moneys collected from leases, rights-of-way, traders licenses,and other sources have been credited throughout the years solelyto the Navajo Tribe.

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    14

    Now comes an urgent request for a right-of-way, submitted by theArizona Public Service Corporation, to construct a transmissionline across the 1934 "Boundary Bill" area. The application for aright-of-way has been approved by the Navajo Tribe but the HopiTribe was not originally made a party. As a consequence, theHopi Tribe has directed its counsel to take appropriate legalaction should a crossing be attempted without the consent of theHopi Tribe, and to take such other action as needed effectivelyto administer the rights of the Hopi Indians in the 1934reservation.That action stimulated a request to the Solicitor for an opinionas to the extent and nature of Hopi rights in the 1934 "BoundaryBill" area as a guide for proper administration of the area towhich the Hopis have historically made their claim. That opinionis attached hereto. It affirms the presence of Hopi interests inthe area but leaves unanswered questions about the nature andextent of such rights. It appears likely the answer to thatmultiple question can be supplied only by the Congress and/or theFederal Courts.It is evident the Government can no longer continue to administerthe area as though it were owned solely by the Navajo Tribe,.Without attempting to prejudge, prejudice, or anticipate anyfuture action that might be taken by the tribes in friendly nego-tiation, or by the Congress finally to adjudicate the respectiveinterests of the tribes, it does not appear reasonable to admin-ister the total of the reservation area in Arizona, confirmed bythe Act of June 14, 1934, as though it were jointly owned by theHopi and Navajo Tribes. Effective administration requires of mea prudent judgment.Therefore, the following instructions shall apply only to thatportion of the Navajo Reservation lying west of the Executive OrderReservation of 1882 and bounded on the north and south by westerlyextensions, to the reservation line, of the northern and southernboundaries of the said Executive Order Reservation.Effective July 1, 1966, an undetermined Hopi interest in the areaso delimited shall officially be recognized by placing in aspecial deposit account all moneys derived from the use and manage-ment of the surface and subsurface resources therein. No actionshall be taken by an official of the Bureau that does not take fullcognizance of the undetermined rights an d interests of the HopiIndians in the said area. This will necessitate formal action b;the Hopi as well as by the Navajo Tribe on all those cases whichhypothecate the surface or subsurface resources for exploration,mining, rights-of-way, traders, or other use or occupancyauthorized by permit, lease, or license.The same rule will apply to any action which might be taken by theGovernment for which the law, policies, or regulations requireprior tribal consent. By the same token, neither tribe should bepermitted unilaterally to take actions within the said area thattrespass on the rights of the other.

    )V

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    15

    The administration of the area delimited above will, if longcontinued, place a financial hardship on both tribes and willmagnify the costs and difficulties of administration.The period of hardships and administrative difficulties would beshortened materially by a friendly confrontation of the tribes, tothe end that in face-to-face talks they might agreeably negotiateout what they consider to be their respective interests and thusform the basis for an early and amicable legislative presentationto the Congress of a bill to end confusion of ownership.In anticipation of Hopi demands for cash reimbursement from theNavajo for whatever their share may prove to be in revenuescollected from at least the area described herein, all of whichrevenues have heretofore been deposited to the credit of theNavajo Tribe, the Area Director for the Navajo should commence asearch for the records of collections and deposits of funds derivedfrom the resources within the area since the date of the enactmentof the so-called "Boundary Bill" of June 14, 1934.

    Sincerely yours.

    Commissioner

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    16

    Exhibit 2LETTER FROM BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS,DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

    ."WL^ JAN 22 1971 L_ ,,, ^ 8 1970Wm S FILESMemorandumJArca Director, Navajo Atcj\Krca Director, Phoenix Arefollowing administrative guidelines will be followed:Aj area l;ncwn as the Mocncopi-IIopi area was delineated foradministrative purposes by Assistant Secretary Locsch inidentical letters dated February 26, 1970, to the respectiveChairmen of the Navajo and Hopi Tribes.

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    17

    This area vithin the 1934 disputed area set aside forexclusive use of the Hopi Tribe is to be administered throughthe Superintendent of the Hopi Agency and tlic Pliocnix AreaDirector. Leases, exchanges, permits, rights-of-way, andother transactions affecting the real property interests inthis area will require execution or consent by both tribes.The remainder of the 1D34 Boundary Bill Area outside theMoencopi-Hopi exclusive use area but wit)iin tlic originalBennett lino (or tlie western extension of the 16S2 ExecutiveOrder Reservation) will be administered by tlie Area Directorof the Navajo Area Office for the exclusive use of the XavajoTribe. Again execution or consent by both tribes is requiredin each transaction. No exceptions v/ill be made, includingpublic works projects. The appropriate approving officialis not delegated authority to approve separate leases, counter-part leases, or other instruments of conveyance or thoseauthorizing tenure until all pa'rts have been received and the"approval or grant can be made of both tribal interest simul-taneously. No transaction executed on behalf of only onetribe's interest will be considered a valid transaction.

    All of the lands within the 1934 Boundary Bill Area outsideof the original line delineated by Commissioner Dennett(or the western extension of the 1862 Executive OrderReservation) shall be administered for the exclusive use ofthe Navajo Tribe through the Office of the Navajo AreaDirector.Transactions within this area will not be required to beexecuted by the Hopi Tribe.All income collected on lands in the 1954 disputed area insidethe original Dennett line (or western extension of the 1SS2Executive Order Reservation) wil] be placed in escrow in aspecial deposit account pending final definition of tlicundetermined interest of the Uopi Tril)c. Income derived fromthe remainder of the 1934 area (outside tlie original Dennettline) will not require deposit in a special account, but tlieArea Directors should take note that an accounting may berequired by eventual judicial or legislative action.There should be no question or confusion in administration ofthe common ownership interest in the 18S2 Hopi Executive OrderReservation outside District 6 in conformance with the UnitedStates District Court decision under Heal ing v. Jones . Eachtribe must join in each new transaction, and each tribe isentitled to receive their proportionate share in the incomederived from these authorized uses.

    Furthermore, the Hopi Tribe is entitled to receive their one-half individual share from all leases, permits or otherantliorizcd uses which were in existence after September 28,1962, the date of the District Court decision. The AreaDirectors are hereby directed to immediately make a properdistribution to each tribe of all income previously collectedand to provide for such distribution of income received inthe future. We can no longer assume a unilateral position infavor of either tribe. Also, inasmuch as this entire area

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    18

    has been eliminated from the applicability of 2S CFR 152,Navajo Grazing Regulations, allgrazing permits within the area.be declared terminated upon theannual term; no new permits maywithin the area.

    existing annually renewableissued under Part 152 shouldc^xpiration of tlieir currentbe issued under Part 152

    ^d'lng Commi ssioncrEnclosures

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    19

    '""

    .'.\

    ... I -

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    20

    Exhibit 4HOTICE TO CEASE ILLEGAL DEVELOPMENTON THE BEJOJETT FREEZE ORDER AREA

    YL' ^^ C^ Cy(^^tLx_TO: T X '- SZ>^r^ ^

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    21

    Exhibit 5LETTER FROM THE HOPI TRIBAL COUNCIL

    t^jMst 26, 1S02

    Calvin l^ez. CascvorkerDivisicr. of Fecial EenrLcssKestsm ftevajo /^srszyP.O. E=< 2299Tuba City, Ari=rj> EK)J5 .

    KL: :;telJa }jj Isi-'li',' r:

    TT^e E3?i Kc=9DtjLatir)9 CcrriitLee, fijrijig its Tcgulsj irsfcLJJir. en T'.ixj. 73,1S32, ur.2.ni"^2i:sly \-crtsd to plscs a roreitcrium en any and all cxr.ir.truclici.'iactivities, r=:re sp?cifically u-ithin t!je Bcrt^ctt Freezs Order Aica (n'lV.) ,until certain iss^as Us-jq ixrss, address^ satisf2:;torily si:rro'jrJjr>g corrent2.-.= rctsntijil ccnstnirticn c>cti7ities in the litigated ETC.^ and the entire1P3> Reser.-aticn. . * ._

    The Cc:ndtt=>? has rcst=cr>ed tfe prccsssij:^ cf all ccr.stTi::l5rn t)'70>-cations for the ETti^ foe an inde'finita pszid uhidi will sllc-^ Lh.c- llcjnTribe to cctc^sct a ciilete invBStigst.lcn ctj tho r.itter. \rj=e.-r-tiile, th-e BilsrccxSy bene is presently ccnsicared t^- Vif-. V.cpi Tribeas unajthorireo constrccticr. c-ja to the fart that no initial cxx^tact vac

    race with the Ecpi Triha to authorise such ccnstiixrtiori.In Vs. Keebahe's rzzs, the Kepi Tribs i."ill r.ct c-jthorize p];ic3ng his

    speciaUy^-ccnstructed and -"erjuippa-d trailer en any lands currenUy underlitioaticT . r3anl- the BrCi\ and the entire 1534 Kessrvaticn arfr?-.. IJcv^vcr,Hr. Keeb2.he ray vork vith the Tube City Chapter and \:-estem Kavijo /\rcnr>*in cbtaL-lng trailer specs vithLn the Kaviijo ^^roinistrative (Dcvelcpx-nt)Area s-.:rrca-iding the iarsdiate vicinity of Tuba Citj'.If yo-j recTjire additional infcrrjticn, please contact the Office ofCzrrJtts^ Bt^lf, Hrpi Tiibc, at (602) 7J4-24'M, cxt. IIB.

    ^Sircerely,

    /i. Konohni V "^i'uiiiting Cc

    Kopi Tribal CouncilStrtnD.or*^- nonohni i'.y . , Qv-:5nT.?nfcyi ^Jeco'uiiJting Ccnuittac

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    22

    Exhibit 6EXECUTIVE ORDER FROM THE NAVAJO NATION

    So as to provide rehabilitation and development needed in the former Statutory FreezeArea, and fully address the terribje conditions imposed on the Dine' people of theformer freeze area, as President of the Navajo Nation, I hereby establish a StatutoryFreeze Redevelopment Task Force, hereinafter referred to as the Task Force.Whereas: For tv^enty-six years families and communities have been virtually unableto construct, repair, or replace housing, with the result that tnere are at least 2,000substandard, dilapidated or overcrowded homes in the former "freeze" area inimmediate need of repair or replacement; and

    Whereas: For twenty-six years private business people have been unable to withdrawland or construct places of work in the former "freeze" area, with the result thatvirtually all forms of commerce and industry have been precluded, and the hundredsor thousands of jobs which they would have created have gone elsewhere, resultingin a need for at least an additional 2,000 full time jobs in the former "freeze" area;andWhereas: For twenty-six years there has been only limited development of roads,transportation facilities, utilities and other infrastructure with the result that most ofthe former "freeze" area is served by poor roads and has no access to the water,electric, telephone and other utilities most Americans take for granted; andWhereas: For twenty-six years, communities in the former freeze area have beenconstrained from developing or repairing community facilities with the result thatcommunity meeting and public service sites are inadequate and in poor repair,essential public services including but not limited to police and fire protection, socialservices, day care, counseling, and public assistance services are not being adequatelyprovided and there is furthermore a lack of parks and recreational facilities and sitesfor public activities; andWhereas: For twenty-six years the school districts of the former "freeze" area havebeen constrained from building or improving school facilities, with the result thatschools and pre-schools are inadequate or lacking, and may not meet standards forhealth, safety, space or location, and the children and young people of the former"freeze" area are not receiving the education they are entitled to; andWhereas: For twenty-six years the Indian Health Service, Navajo Nation, communitiesor other health care providers have been constrained from constructing neededfacilities, there is a total lack of health care, nursing and rehabilitation facilities in thecommunities where they are needed; andWhereas: For twenty-six years BIA, Navajo Nation, Grazing Comminees, communitiesand livestock owners have been constrained from constructing needed rangeImprovements and fencing, resulting in deterioration of range resources, soil erosion,and other environmental problems; andWhereas: For twenty-six years families who farm have been constrained frommaintaining or expanding irrigation facilities, or from developing new farming areas,resulting in reduced farm productivity and deteriorated farm and irrigationinfrastructure; andWhereas: For twenty-six years the Navajo Nation and other agencies have beenconstrained from addressing environmental hazards including but not limited to

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    23

    uranium mine tailings, resulting in adverse health impact on the Dine' people of theformer "freeze" area, surrounding areas, and areas downstream; andWhereas: The Navajo Nation intends that the Task Force hereby established willaddress these and other problems resulting from the "freeze" and make the Dine'people and communities of this area whole again in their lives, livelihoods, propertyand all other things which they have lost or been prevented from having; andWhereas: The establishment of this Task Force is at the recommendation of theNavajo-Hopi Land Commission of the Navajo Nation Council, staff of the Navajo-HopiLand Commission Office, and concerned residents of the former "freeze" area.THEREFORE IT IS HEREBY DIRECTED THAT:The Statutory Freeze Redevelopment Task Force is hereby established. The TaskForce will be comprised of representatives that will be appointed by the President.The goals of the Task Force will be: To specifically identify the housing, infrastructureand other needs of the statutory freeze area that have been created or caused by thefreeze; to develop a master plan for addressing those needs in an orderly and efficientmanner; and to consult with appropriate Tribal, Federal, State and other officials toassure that implementation of all development activities occurs as expeditiously aspossible.FURTHER: The Task Force will report monthly, beginning on November 6, 1 992, andwill submit its preliminary findings, to the President of the Navajo Nation and theSpeaker of the Navajo Nation Council by January 15, 1993.FURTHER: The Task Force will at its first meeting adopt a Plan of Operation and willsubsequently act with the authority of the President of the Navajo Nation within theparameters of that Plan.All staff of the Executive Branch of the Navajo Nation are hereby directed to assist theTask Force in their regular capacities as Navajo Nation employees, as requested by theTask Force.Funds for travel, lodging, per diem and other necessary costs will be taken fromappropriate accounts of the Navajo Nation agencies for their staff who serve on theTask Force. Funds will also be available from the Office of the President of the NavajoNation.

    The Task Force will be in effect for one year from the date of this Executive Orderthrough the end of Navajo Nation Fiscal year 1993, at which time it may be extendedby order of the President of the Navajo Nation.All of the above is hereby decreed this 19th day of October, 1992.

    Peterson Zah(/PresidentTHE NAVAJO NATION

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    24Senator DeConcini. Mr. President, thank you very much. I dohave a couple of questions, but I will now ask Mr. Bitsuie if he hasa summary of a statement he would like to give?

    STATEMENT OF ROMAN BITSUIEMr. Bitsuie. Mr. Chairman, my name is Roman Bitsuie. I amthe executive director of the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission Office,under the office of the Navajo Nation president. Following thecourt's December 21, 1992, decision in the case in which the court

    lifted the so-called Bennett freeze for all 1.5 million acres subjectto the 1934 litigation, the Hopi Tribe asked the court to reinstatethe freeze for the entire area. The court refused to do so and in-stead ordered a modified freeze covering all of the areas which thecourt had determined both the Navajo and Hopi had been jointlyusing in 1934 or today, and only these areas.The Navajo Nation is complying with the court order. Attachedto this statement is a copy of the notice that the Navajo Nation hassent to those families subject to the modified freeze and a mapshowing these areas. The Navajo Nation has begun the process ofrebuilding the portions of the former Bennett freeze area not sub-ject to the modified freeze. Any appropriation of funds to the Nav-ajo Nation to assist in the rebuilding of the former Bennett freezearea would, therefore, be directed to these areas unless and untilthe modified freeze order is lifted.Given the factual determination made by the court, following afactual inquiry of virtually unprecedented proportion, the NavajoNation is confident that any additional award of land to the HopiTribe that the court may make as a result of the appeal would notextend into the area that has been put under the modified freezeorder. The court has protected the interests of the Hopi Tribe.

    PREPARED STATEMENTIn conclusion, I cannot emphasize sufficiently the depth of the

    opposition of the Navajo Nation to the continuation of the freezeorder on any portion of the 1934 reservation. We now have the ben-efit of hindsight with which to look at this proposal for a freeze.The Bennett freeze was the tragic policy when it was instituted in1966. This subcommittee cannot allow that mistake to be repeated.And if there is any question along the lines of the prior procedurethat has been in place, I would be happy to answer those questions,Mr. Chairman. Thank you.[The statement follows:]

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    STATEMENT OF ROMAN BITSUIE111 . Llld i I nidll .

    i cJiu hunidii DiLsuit!, cue txeuuLive uiiecLui ot Llie Hcivdjo-Hopi Ldiiu i_umnt liis xuii . I'lie havd.iu-Mupi L.diii.1 L.uiniiixst:iuii is duiriue ill Liie txeuuLive bi diicii oi Llit; Wavdjo ridLiuii v/iLli1 espoiis ibi 1 i t V LU oversee vdl luus issues lelaLea Lo iidVdjo-Hupiidiia Uis^iULes, iiiciuUiiiy Liie leuui lUiiiy ot Liie roimer beiiiieLurieeze diea. i lie coiiiirii as ion (joiiiisi.s or nienioel s or Llie UdVdjoiidLioii '-ouinjii vfiiose aieds aie driecteii Liy Liiese issues.

    i dill suuiuicLiiuj tills sLdLeiiieiil. Lo cue i>uu(joiiiiii i L Lee in orderLO uidiity LUe cuiieiiL sLdLus ot Llie nioOirieu "t^ieeiie" oiUereti DyLlie uisLiiuL '-LiuiL oi HI i:ioiid in ueijemuei l^^;L. hoiiov/inci tliei^ouiL's ;5epLeniuei iitj, iSi-^-i tleclsion ill Llie Cdse, iii i/hicli tlieC-'Ui L iiiLeO Liie so-CdiieO 'ceiiiieLL i-iee'^ie roi all l.b nmiiuiiacres suDjeCL lo Llie L^^i iiLigaLioii, Llie riopl Ti ibe askeu tliev-o'Ji L LO leiiisLd'-e Liie M eeiie roi Liie eiiLire aiea. 1 lie L-ourLlerusea Lo oo so, aiici insLeaa oruei eU a inoUitieU freeze coverimjan or Liie aieas \Miicii Llie coui l liau UeLermiiieu uoLli Llie HavajoaiiU hopi iiaO been joiiiLiy useu in XVo4 oi Louay, aiiU LMiiy Lliesear iij .

    MiLiiouun Llie Hava.jo HaLioii opposeu Llie nopi peLiLioii tor ariee'ze -- diiu. inueea, v.-oulo oppose any peLiLioii lo rreeiie anylaiiu, liavajo oi hopi . on iiunidii i Lar lan yrouinJs -- Llie uaLiLiii isoomplyiny v/iLn Liie i-ouiL s oiOei. nLtaciieu Lo Liiis s ta Leiiitfii L isa copy or Liie iioLice LiiaL Liie nava.ic II-h'-ioii lias sent. Lo Liiosetdiiiiiies suujecL LO Liie niouiriecl rree^e ana a map snov/iny Llieseaieas .

    llie Navajo iiaLion iias ueyuii tiih' process or reui.i i lu iiiy Litepoi Lions or LUe roiiuei M eeiie aiea noL sulij^^cl lo Liie ino'Jitieutreeiie. .iiiy appt opi lat luii ot tunas Lo tlie liavajo Mation LodssiSL in Llie reouiiUiiiy or Llie roiiiiei ceniieLL Meeiie area v'oulu,Liiereroie, ue UirecLeO Lo Lliese aieas unless aiiu until Llieiiio'Jirie'j rreet;e oiuer is lirLeu. ';iveii Llie tacLuaiueLei niiiidL ions maue oy me couiL, roilov/iny a rscLual inyuiry orviiLuaiiy unpi eceueiiLeu pioporLion. Liie iiavajo HaL ion iscoiiriueiiL LiiaL any auuiLioiial av/aiu or laiia LO Llie Mopi XriDeLiidL Llie coui L may iiiaKe as a resuiu or tlie appeal '..'ouid noLexLenu iiiLo Llie aiea*iias '^puL uiiOei Llie niodiriea treeze order.Xiie Loui L lias proLecLea Liie lllLelesL^^ ot tlie hopi riiDe.

    in ciosiny, i caiinoL eiiiplidsi::e sutricieiiLiy Llie ueptn otijppos 1 L ion ot tlie Havajo Uatioii lo tiie coiil iiiuat ion ol a rreezeoriiei on any poiLion or Llie ivji KeservaLion . We now nave theueneriL oi iiindsiyliL vyiLIi utiicli to look at Liiia pioposal ror atieeze. llie Bennett t-ieeze was tlie trayic policy i/hen it wasinsLiLULeu in 19Dt>. I'liis i>uUcoinnii L Lee caiinoL allow that mistaketo be repeated.

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    NAVAJO-HOPI LAND COMMISSION OFFICETuba City, Arizona(602) 283-5901

    ***TsJQ'T'T(~'Th***TfflS NOTICE CONCERNS NAVAJO CONSTRUCnON IN THEFORMER BENNETT FREEZE AREA PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:1. On September 25, 1992, the Federal Court in Phoenix lifted the Bennett Freeze on

    all lands west of the Hopi Reservation, with one exception discussed below.2. Exception: The following applies only to the area shown on the attached Map and

    will continue to apply at least until the Court of Appeals decides the appeal filedby the Hopi Tribe:a. Navajos who were living inside the area shown on the map on September 25,

    1992, may repair or add to their homes, and may build new structures ontheir present homesite for use of immediate family members who lived atthat site on September 25, 1992.

    b. Navajos who were not living inside the area shown on the map onSeptember 25, 1992, may not establish a homesite inside that area, includingnew structures or relocating to any existing structures within that area.

    3. Before constructing anything within the area shown on the map, all families shouldcheck with the Navajo Nation's Navajo-Hopi Land Commission Office in Tuba Cityto make sure the construction is authorized under the above Order.

    4. Navajos living within the former Bennett Freeze Area but outside the area shownon the map may now build and repair homes and construct other improvementsauthorized by the Navajo Nation. Of course, any Navajos wishing to engage in newconstruction must first obtain the necessary permits from their Chapter and/orNavajo Nation and/or the BLA, as required.

    If you have any questions, please contact Larry Nez or Ray Russell at theNavajo-Hopi Land Commission Office in Tuba City.

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    28Senator DeConcini. Thank you very much. President Zah, youmake a very compelling case. I have noticed this for so long, and

    I know there are many sides but I do not think any disputes thesuffering that has gone on here by the people, the Navajo people.That strikes me as a humanitarian, human rights violation.I do notice in your testimony a number of statements that arebroad. One is that you said that many former freeze residents donot believe that the freeze is over. Why not? Do they just thinkthat the Government has misrepresented too many times out here,or the communication is inadequate?Mr. Zah. Well, I guess the best way I can really make people un-derstand is by drawing an analogy. However, before I do that letme just restate that if you live in the former Bennett freeze areaand each year there is a modification or amendment to the freeze,and if you were told so many timesin this case, six or seventimes within a 10-year periodyou are going to question even yourown intelligence as to who to believe, because it got so confusing.The illustration that I wanted to use was in September of lastyear when the Bennett freeze was lifted, it kind of reminded meof a situation when I was a young boy. We used to have horses thatour fathers and our grandfathers utilized a lot to do the homechores. The two horses that we had would pull a wagon. We plowedour fields, we hoed our fields, and we used those two horses almostevery day.But sometimes when you go away, you hobble the two horses andthey will go out for 2, 3, 4 days. Because we were aware, we wereunable to go unhobble them. At the end of a fourth or fifth day,you go back to the same horse and you unhobble them and put arope around their neck, and as you are trying to lead them backto the house, even though they are not hobbled, they would stilljump and follow you until several jumps later, then they wouldstart walking. I think in this case, that is really what happened tothe people. And that is why they had a hard time believing thatit was all over.Senator DeConcini. And how about the fact that part of it is stillunder some modified freeze. Is that correct, even under JudgeCarroll's ruling?Mr. Zah. As I understand it, there is a map.Senator DeConcini. And some of that is still subject to some re-strictions.Mr. Zah. If you look at the blue area and then if you look at thewhite lines inside the blue area, the white line inside the blue arearepresents a still modified version.Senator DeConcini. So we still have not really lifted all thefreeze by the court decision.Mr. Zah. Not all.Senator DeConcini. Now, Mr. President, you have made a sub-stantial request, and I compliment you and the tribe for being as

    forthright and as explicit as you can. And you also make good argu-ments about how do you justify foreign aid to the former SovietUnion or a space station and SDImany things that disturb meimmensely and that I tried to oppose and reduce, but we are sad-dled with what we have. And I do not use that as an excuse to nul-lify your strong arguments on it.

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    29What proportion is the 1994 request of the total amount thatwould be needed to rehabilitate in the Bennett freeze? Do you haveany estimates or a total amount? I know you talk about a 5- to 10-

    year process.Mr. Zah. Mr. Senator, we have put together a task force to ad-dress that problem, and the proposal that we are presenting toCongress and have presented to Congressand we will have toprobably modify it to some degree, that proposal, some timesthroughout the year. But the committee and the task force put to-gether a report which asks for an approximate figure of $308 mil-lion over the course of the next 5 to 10 years, to completely reha-bilitate the land and the people.Senator DeConcini. Now, my last questionand I may submitsome due to time, Mr. Presidentwhat commitments in amountsis the tribal government making available, programs and dollaramounts, to the people within the Bennett freeze for modificationand improvements?Mr. Zah. Immediately after the freeze was lifted, we went to thepeople that had been making requests for all these years. Some ofthem were backlogged over a number of years. We went to thosepeople first and using tribal money, using tribal resources, we wereable to give them some of the basic repair work that they neededdone.For example, the covering of the roof, putting the new roofingpaper on. Because the winter was comingthis was in Septemberand October; it was cold. And we did that with money that we had

    left over in some programs, using tribal general funds. And I thinkwe used up somewhere between $350 to $300,000 of tribal money.Senator DeConcini. Will the tribe be appropriating any fundsfrom its general revenues for this particular area?Mr. Zah. When the land became unfrozen, we as the leaders ofthe Navajo Nation, felt an obligation to treat them like any otherchapter houses or any other people, and so there is not really aspecial appropriation for them.Senator DeConcini. But they are now able to participate in thegeneral fund.Mr. Zah. Be able to participate in what the general fund does forother Navajo people.Senator DeConcini. So you have no specific program from thetribe.Mr. Zah. In the former Bennett freeze area, for those individualswho needed housing, we are concentrating on that and we arepumping some of the money from other programs into that to do

    that, but that is going to be running out pretty soon.Senator DeConcini. Thank you very much, Mr. Bitsuie.Mr. Bitsuie. Thank you very much.Senator DeConcini. Thank you, Mr. President.

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    30STATEMENT OF VERNON MASAYESVA, CHAIRMAN, THE HOPI TRIBE,KYKOTSMOVI, AZACCOMPANIED BY ALTON HONAHNI, GOVERNOR MOENCOPI VIL-LAGE, TUBA CITY, AZSenator DeConcini. Our next witness will be Vernon Masayesva,the chairman from the Hopi Tribe, and he will be accompanied byAlton Honahni, the governor of the Moencopi Village.Mr. Chairman, would you please join us.Mr. Chairman Masayesva, thank you for being with us today.Your full statement will be in the record, and you may proceed tosummarize it.Mr. Masayesva. OK. [Hopi spoken.] Good morning to all of you.To you, Senator DeConcini. We also want to thank you on behalfof the tribe for giving us the opportunity to address the committee

    today.I think one of the things I would like to emphasize, that when

    you talk about Bennett freeze, it also impacts the Hopi people, theMoencopi Hopis. As a matter of fact, the Moencopi Hopis have beenliving under the Bennett freeze situation since 1934. MoencopiHopis have land rights guaranteed to them, as stipulated in con-gressional act, but their rights have never been protected. Theirrights have been consistently violated.These people have been neglected by the U.S. Government andit was the courts that finally restored some semblance of justice tothe Hopi people. The Bennett freeze was the only mechanism avail-able to the Hopis to protect what rights they had from a surround-ing Navajo population of, as Mr. Zah says, 10,000 people. If you areoutnumbered 10 to 1, any kind of legal protection helps.So the Hopi people have also suffered hardships as a result ofthe freeze, as a result of the neglect of the Federal Government.These people have lived under the Tuba City BIA Navajo agencythey still areand when it comes to asking for services such as re-pairing windmills, repairing dikes, improving roads, their priorityis always the last. And so I hope the American people also under-stand that Hopis are also impacted by the Bennett freeze area andthat we welcome the opportunity, now that the freeze has been lift-ed, to work in partnership, in cooperation with the Navajo neigh-bors.

    I think this calls for a decade of healing that has to set in. Ithink we need to forget our differences and begin to address thehardships, the true hardships of all of our people living in thisarea. I think it is wrong to attribute everything, every hardship tothe Bennett freeze, and to use it as a vehicle for a run on the Fed-eral Treasury.Senator DeConcini. Excuse me, say that again. Can you pullthat microphone a little closer? Say that again, Mr. Chairman, Idid not hear you.Mr. Masayesva. I said that I think everyone has suffered hard-ships, but I think it is wrong to attribute every hardship to Ben-nett freeze. I think there are many, many things that we couldhave done, both Hopis and Navajos, even with the freeze in effect,where we could have helped alleviate and improve the living condi-tions on the reservation.

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    31The Hopi Tribe has been singled out as the culprit, as the onethat has created this problem, but I would like to say that of therecords that we have been keeping since the 1980's, 95 percent, 98

    percent of the applications for renovations and repairs have beensystematically approved by the Hopi Tribe. There has been onlyseven cases that I am aware of that have been referred to the Sec-retary of the Interior, and it was approved. On the other hand, wehave record of over 300 instances of illegal construction. So thefreeze, to me, really had no real serious practical impact. It is kindof like mercury that would not freeze.But I do hope that we will now use this opportunity to improvethe conditions, living conditions that all of our people need, that wecontinue to work in partnership with our Navajo neighbors. I thinkboth the honorable Zah and I have made good progress in numer-ous joint projects such as the airport authority, the Joint Hopi-Nav-ajo Airport Authority; our joint requests to Secretary of the InteriorBabbitt to help us reserve an import of water to this area, whichis the fastest growing population of indigenous people. Populationexperts have indicated that by the year 2040 there will be approxi-mately 270,000 Navajos, Hopis, Cheyennes living in the ColoradoPlateau.And so when I hear the comments that we need to plumb everyhouse, build a new house for every Navajo, what I see is a tremen-dous demand on the water, and we have such a limited supply ofwater. I think that, to me, as a Hopi who looks at a long-term fu-ture in the interests of future generationsthat is one of my pri-mary concernsthat all developments, that all of our dreams aremeaningless if we do not have the guaranteed supply of water.And, Senator, I think with your support and assistance webothMr. Zah and I will succeed in bringing to this water-poorarea a guaranteed supply of water that will enable Navajos andHopis to improve their living conditions, develop economic enter-prises, and do the things that we all would like to do to improvethe living conditions on both reservations.I would like to make the committee aware of two important factswhich have been largely overlooked in the recent discussions aboutthe Bennett freeze. The first is that Judge Carroll's order in the1934 case, including his order lifting the freeze, have been ap-pealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and may be reversedby that court. We believe that the Hopi Tribe is entitled to a muchlarger area of land than Judge Carroll award. If the court of ap-peals agrees with u